The EU cannot get Orbán to unblock the 90 billion credit to kyiv and trusts everything to the Hungarian elections

Despite the absolute blockade and the urgency of kyiv, the heads of State and Government of the 27 They still don’t want to talk about any plan B and they trust everything to the result of the Hungarian elections on April 12, where all polls show the opposition leader, Péter Magyar, of the Tisza Christian Democrat party, as the winner.

The credit was approved last December unanimously by the 27 heads of State and Government, including Orbán himself, after ruling out the use of Russian funds frozen in the EU. But the Hungarian prime minister has withdrawn his support, claiming that kyiv purposely blocks the arrival of Russian oil cheap via the Druzhba pipeline.

The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenskireplies that the pipeline was seriously damaged by a Russian bombing at the end of January and refused to repair it due to the risk that workers would be victims of new attacks from the Kremlin. But EU leaders have forced him this week to undertake the reform, also offering community funds.

However, neither the concessions from Brussels nor the pressure from the rest of the heads of state and government during the European Council held this Thursday in the Belgian capital have had any effect on Orbán.

“We want to recover the oil that is ours and that is now blocked by the Ukrainians. “I will not support any decision that favors Ukraine as long as Hungary cannot access the oil that belongs to it,” said the Hungarian Prime Minister upon his arrival at the summit.

Is Zelensky’s commitment to repair the pipeline enough for Orbán? “We are waiting for our oil, everything else is fairy tales. We only believe the facts and the oil must reach Hungary,” he responded.

“It is something existential: what we are talking about is not about politics, it is existential for Hungary, to achieve oil. Without that oil, all Hungarian homes and companies will go bankrupt, it is not a joke, it is not a political game,” alleges the Hungarian prime minister, who is nevertheless using this clash to boost his election campaign.

During the closed-door discussion, the president of the European Council, the Portuguese socialist António Costa, was very harsh with Orbán: his veto of the 90,000-euro credit is “unacceptable” because it “violates the principles of good faith and sincere cooperation enshrined in the Treaties,” according to diplomatic sources.

Although Orbán has been blocking initiatives to support Ukraine for years (he also vetoes the twentieth package of sanctions against the Kremlin), the EU considers that this occasion marks a qualitative leap: It is the first time that the Hungarian leader has revoked an agreement that he himself had approved.

Costa has also told him that the repair of the Druzhba pipeline is not in the hands of the EU, but “depends exclusively on Ukraine’s ability to repair it and Russia’s will not to destroy it again.”

The European Commission is working with the Ukrainian authorities to support them, and President Zelensky has committed to completely restore oil flow as soon as possible and to fully fulfill Ukraine’s role as a reliable energy partner of the EU, he insisted.

Finally, Costa has also criticized Zelensky’s public attacks on Orbán. “This escalation benefits no one”he said.

However, Orbán has turned a deaf ear to the pressure from his colleagues and, in two brief interventions, has limited himself to repeating his public positions. And the rest of the partners have not proposed alternatives either, according to the sources consulted.

In the end, European leaders have approved conclusions in which they commit to maintaining political, financial and military support for Ukraine in the face of Ukraine’s war of aggression. As usual, both Hungary and Slovakia have distanced themselves from this statement.